Once upon a time, Bernie liked to remind everyone that he was the poorest member of Congress. Why that was something to brag about, I'm not sure, but it was one of his standard lines. Then we saw all the stories of multiple homes, lucrative book deals, and a nice post-election income bump. Suddenly, it became a lot harder to portray himself as good ol' disheveled Bernie the schlub - America's favorite poor socialist.
To be clear, that's still his schtick. It's just tougher to sell these days.
